He also called into question Sir Christopher Meyer's current role as head of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), pointing out that any complaints about the serialisation of the extracts would have to be addressed to him.

Mr Straw's intervention comes after a week of government silence on the slights and indiscretions in the book, which covers the period in the build-up to the Iraq war.

Mr Straw himself is called a "political pygmy" in the book DC Confidential, which says he was tongue-tied in front of American officials.

But the foreign secretary insisted he was more angry at Sir Christopher breaking "personal confidences" by revealing his morning briefings in John Major's bedroom, which took place whilst the then prime minister got dressed and his wife Norma was still in bed.

Mr Straw told the Today programme: "The behaviour in which he talked about the underwear the prime minister was wearing is just preposterous and very demeaning."

He said: "I think it is completely unacceptable for someone like Christopher Meyer to break trust in the way that he has done.

"It undermines the key relationship between civil servants and ministers. It has led to very great concern, I may say, amongst the whole of the diplomatic service."

Pointing to Sir Christopher's role as chairman of the PCC, Mr Straw said: "What are people supposed to do?

"He is in the newspapers saying controversial things. If people want to complain to the newspapers about what he has said, who do they complain to?"

Only those who are the subject of a story can complain to the PCC, and it is highly unlikely Mr Straw, or the other Labour cabinet ministers derided in the book - Geoff Hoon and John Prescott - would be likely to draw further attention to it by doing so.

Mr Straw also said Sir Christopher was "not nearly as involved in the (Foreign Office) process as he now tries to suggest" from mid-2002.

On the negotiation of UN resolution 1441 on Iraq, he was a "marginal player", Mr Straw said. The foreign secretary said because Sir Christopher wanted to leave his Washington post from the beginning of 2003, he was "not very much involved at all".

Sir Christopher's book - serialised in the Guardian and the Daily Mail this week - is the latest in a series of indiscreet memoirs from near the centre of the Blair administration.

Last month, the former No 10 press adviser Lance Price published his account of working at Downing Street. The former director of communications, Alastair Campbell, is believed to be waiting for Mr Blair to step down before publishing his diaries.

He said: "Notwithstanding my commitment to freedom of information, I have some sympathy with Jack Straw's comments.

"The conduct of foreign affairs can be a delicate and sensitive matter in which there are difficult and complex negotiations. The kind of detail that Sir Christopher has provided could inhibit frankness and damage relations.

"The public does not need to know about the tightness of the prime minister's trousers. It seems to me that this kind of reference trivialises important issues."

Sir Menzies was referring to Sir Christopher's description of a Camp David summit between President Bush and Mr Blair, where the prime minister was allegedly discomfited by a "ball-crushingly tight" pair of jeans.

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